On Iran, Trump administration's messaging is mixed

A third round of US-Iran talks concluded Thursday in Geneva, with mediator Oman speaking of "significant progress" being made, but the threat of potential conflict is causing significant concern in Washington.

The US president has said he prefers the diplomatic route but is prepared to order limited strikes in the absence of a deal -- a threat backed by a massive military force he has deployed in the Middle East.

Speaking Wednesday in Saint Kitts and Nevis, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to temper expectations for the Geneva meeting, saying that "eventually we'll have to have conversations about more than just a nuclear program."

"I would say that the Iranian insistence on not discussing ballistic missiles is a big, big problem," Rubio told reporters.

In his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump spoke of Iran's "sinister nuclear ambitions" and also accused Tehran of seeking to develop weapons that could hit the United States.

"They've already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America," Trump said.

A Congressional Research Service report from 2025 said that Iran's medium-range arsenal tops out at 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers) -- far short of US territory.

As for whether Iran is currently enriching uranium, the Trump administration's message remains mixed.

- US Congress sidelined -

"They're not enriching right now, but they're trying to get to the point where they ultimately can," Rubio said Wednesday.

US envoy Steve Witkoff, who took part in the Geneva talks alongside Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, meanwhile said Saturday on Fox News that Iran had reached some 60 percent enrichment and is "probably a week away from having industrial-grade bombmaking material."

That assertion comes despite Trump's continued claims that Washington's forces obliterated Iran's nuclear program with air and missile strikes last June.

"It's beginning to sound like 2003," Carl Bildt, a former Swedish prime minister and current co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote on X Thursday.

That year, then-US president George W. Bush justified his invasion of Iraq by saying the country possessed weapons of mass destruction -- but none were ever found.

"I don't think there are any indications that (Iran) is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles, and claims that they have ballistic missiles able to hit Europe are also highly questionable," Bildt said.

In the United States, Democrats say that the federal legislature -- the only body authorized by the US Constitution to declare war -- is being sidelined.

"Everyone is asking what the plan is with respect to Iran, and we're all looking for answers that the administration has refused to give," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor Thursday.

"The administration should come clean and tell the American people exactly what the goal is in Iran," Schumer said.

Top congressional leaders met behind closed doors Tuesday at the White House with Rubio, just before Trump's address to Congress.

Democratic lawmakers intend to force a vote next week in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on a resolution requiring Trump to publicly make his case for war to Congress.

"This legislation would require the president to come to Congress to make the case for using military force against Iran," they said in a statement.

A date for the vote has not been set.

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